Hoagland Mission: District Conference

On Wednesday we went to Hokitika to locate some of the less active members of the branch. It was quite a success as we found some lost and information on others. On our travels around town we came upon the circus that just came to town.

On Thursday we traveled to Nelson again for a zone conference and two days of district conference. On the way we came upon this accident where a truck hauling this huge mining truck did not make it around a corner. Of the six trips made to Nelson we have seen three serious accidents. That is not very good in as much as there is not that much traffic on these roads.

We stayed at President Rob Venables new home for the three nights we were at zone and district conferences. Sister Venables was on a four day hike that she had scheduled way before when the conference had been originally scheduled for the previous week. They have lived in NZ for 2 years and came from England. The children are just wonderful and smart as whips. Ten year old Ashley reads better than most adults and has read all the Twilight series books. The last book is 750 odd pages and she has read it twice. Ashley and Joshua took to us as if they had known us all their lives. After this picture Joshua and I went and read some books he had from the library. One of the charming things about the children is they have a most wonderful (posh) English accent. Their father is an executive at the Sealord Food Co. We sat with them during conference. Ashley read the last 150 pages of this book during conference, with permission from her father.

During lunch at our zone conference Sister Jolliffe taught us how to make paper boxes using old magazine or greeting card pictures or designs. Great fun.

After our zone conference we took Elder Bair to the emergency room as he had an infected scratch on his rear end. He had a hard fall on some rocks over a week ago and it was really causing him some pain. We passed the Tasman bay front on our way. Elder Bair only received antibiotics then and I took him back Saturday after all the conference activities when the doctor finally lanced it and cleaned it out. He was one sore young man. Felt better today.

On Saturday morning before conference we took the children on a walk to their school. Our first stop was right next door where a new home was being built. I took this picture because I was intrigued that the first thing up after the frame was the gutter system.

Before we headed off to the school we walked up this road for a view of the neighborhood. It turned out to be not such a good day as it started to rain just as we got back. Ashley and Joshua on the left.

A view from the neighborhood we walked through to get the school. A fairly new middle-class neighborhood.

After conference sessions ended around 3:30 pm we ran down town to see if we could locate a discount office supply. Not having much time before other conference activities we did not locate the store but we stopped at this beach briefly as it was rainy and windy and just took a picture and we left. This is the Tasman bay at Nelson.

After the Saturday sessions of district conference, the district had activities for the children. It was going to be at the beach but the weather did not cooperate. Instead they had the children dress their teachers in newspaper costumes. They even had a pilgrim. If you look closely you will see some pretty intricate work.

While the primary had their activity, the youth had fun outside with some Frisbee games. That is President Venables taking another picture.

Here are the primary children having a great time with a tug of war. This was the first one for many of them. We have European, Tongan, Maori, and Indian children.

Following the adult session of conference and primary and youth activities the district put on a wonderful dinner. This is just one of two tables of food where Sister Hoagland is cutting pizza in smaller pieces for the primary children. They had their own table with food more to their liking.